Thursday, July 03, 2008

Burning Daylight

So no sooner than I declare that the sunny days of high summer have arrived in Seattle than a storm brews up from the south, and restores the town to its trademark gray, rainy state.

They mock me, the weather gods, they mock me!

Well, in truth its been hot and fiery in California of late, and all that warm, unstable air is coming north. We do have rain in the summer, but usually it is soft and at night. Last night was a thunderstorm of impressive (though not quite midwestern) quality, boiling up out from the foothills of Rainier.

The good news with the increased cloud cover is that it reduces one of the untold perils of Seattle in the summer - too much daylight. Yeah, you hear about the lack of light in the winter, when you go to work in the dark and come home in the dark, but the opposite occurs in the summer. The sky lightens at 5, and even at 10 you can see the silhouettes of the trees against the dying sky.

The result of all this, though, is that we are awake ALL THE TIME. Forget coffee culture, we are up earlier and going to bed later. And as a result, we're just a little more exhausted after it is all said and done. We're getting more done, but it starts to wear on you.